Been offered a JCM900 mkiii 50 watt head, any info ??Anything like a jubilee??

riffpowers

My friend is selling one of his many marshalls, a 50 watt JCM900 mkiii head.
On paper it might be just teh job for me, dual master volumes for a solo boost, and I'm toid they're a bit like a jcm800 and you cna turn the solid state clipping off by turning one of the gain pots down.

Does anybody have any info on the amps?? Any good?? I played a dual reverb a few years ago but never tried the mkiii.

ICBM

Yes, they're quite good - much closer to a classic Marshall than the Dual Reverb is, although not exactly like a JCM800. You can't turn off the diode clipping by turning the gain down, it's in the signal path at all times - you can minimise it by running the Sensitivity as low as possible and the MV as high as possible relative to where you want the gain, but that's as far as it goes. I wouldn't worry about it unless you don't like the sound.

Borrow it and see if you like it...

Make sure the High/Low power switch is set to High, they sound much better like that, and pay no attention to where it says '4' on the impedance selector - that's one of the most stupid pieces of mislabelling on any amp - it's 16 ohms or 8 ohms only on the head. (Combos are the other way round, 8 or 4 ohms only.)

mudslide73

I've got the 2x12 combo version. They're ok but not really comparable to an 800 imo and not very loud for a 50 watter. With both the Preamp and Sensitivity controls in play you can have some interesting combinations. Honestly I've found the best sounds to have a good amount of both. As ICBM says the diode clipping thing isn't a problem unless you don't like the sound.

John_A

I think it's too much of a compromise soundwise. IMO the JCM800 is a much better amp.  Also doesn't help with your portability issues.  Take my advice and try the ENGL . Bad have a few Bstock ones, try it for 30 days

ICBM

John_A said:

I think it's too much of a compromise soundwise. IMO the JCM800 is a much better amp.  Also doesn't help with your portability issues.

I agree they're not as good as the 800s, but they're more controllable and the better balance - transformers at each end, instead of one in the middle - does actually make them slightly easier to carry.

John_A said:

Take my advice and try the ENGL . Bad have a few Bstock ones, try it for 30 days

And hope it blows up with the 30 days, if it's going to...

Having worked on several Engls, I wouldn't own one. Too many design faults, difficult to work on due to construction choices, expensive specialist parts, and poor customer service from Engl.

John_A

@icbm bax (not bad as in my post above) or thomann do a 3 year warranty, but not good to hear, mines been fine but I bought it used so I'll cross my fingers

ICBM

John_A said:

@icbm bax (not bad as in my post above) or thomann do a 3 year warranty, but not good to hear, mines been fine but I bought it used so I'll cross my fingers

Hopefully it will be OK - although I have seen several with problems, it's not *that* common. It was a nasty surprise when I found what they were like inside, since they look so well-made from outside, and sound great.

supes

I had a 900. To me they sounded a bit fizzy compared to the Jcm800. The 800 has a thump about it i really like, no thump in the 900

ICBM

supes said:

I had a 900. To me they sounded a bit fizzy compared to the Jcm800. The 800 has a thump about it i really like, no thump in the 900

That's true. I've never heard a Marshall from later than the 800s that really has the 'roar' - I know a lot of people don't hear it the same though, which must include Marshall's R&D team, since none of their new amps have it... and they still seem to sell well enough.

I agree with the 900s not having the sheer volume of an 800 too, but that may well also be a good thing here.

Collings

I had one of the dual master volume models and it was fairly good and much better than the dual reverb. If fact i thought it was quite similar to the jubilee. I did do a mod to the negative feedback loop and this did improve it further and seemed to bòost the volume as well.

57Deluxe

where did he get his additional 9 watts from?

riffpowers

I've borrowed a mate's silver jubilee reissue, which I believe has diode clipping.

I wondered how similar it is to the jcm900 mkiii???

ICBM

riffpowers said:

I've borrowed a mate's silver jubilee reissue, which I believe has diode clipping.

I wondered how similar it is to the jcm900 mkiii???

Circuit-wise, not at all. They both sound like Marshalls though .

You really just need to try these amps for yourself - you will never know what's going to suit you otherwise.